Free programs, apps for computers, devices

The free VLC player from Download.com is great for playing back audio and video files that your computer can’t handle. The audio files Joy recorded on her new Android smartphone, for example, weren’t playable on the PC. But the VLC player handled them easily on both Mac and PC. To make and send the recording, she tapped “attachment” from the phone’s email window and then “Voice recorder.” She tested it by interviewing Bob about the stock market.

Our two favorite free security apps have versions for Windows or Mac. Anti-Malware from Malwarebytes.org is a great program for blocking and getting rid of spyware. To get rid of viruses, we like the Czech program, Avast, which is free and used by 150 million people. The latest version, just out this month, installs security updates much faster than before.

Screen capture programs are useful when you want to save a photo, text or anything you can see on the screen. That includes frames and whole contents from websites and is much safer than saving it to your hard drive, which could infect your computer. The reason is a screen capture just captures an image, and not the underlying computer code, which is what could infect the computer.

Screen captures are also great for capturing error messages that pop up, since they’re hard to remember later when you’re trying to explain things to a tech support person. If you have Windows 7 or 8, use its free “Snipping tool.” For XP users, there’s a free capture program “Jing,” from TechSmith. For the Mac, pressing “Command,” “Shift” and the number four all together captures an image of what’s one the screen.

Be careful to click on the actual download, rather than an ad for something else. If it’s not free, you clicked on the wrong thing.

Footnote: Bob’s favorite screen capture program is “CaptureWiz Lite,” which is not free and costs $20 from Piexelmetrics.com. Sometimes you have to Google it to find the “lite” version. There’s a 30-day free trial.

REVISITING ALL-IN-ONE
Tech writers have been praising the new “all in one” Windows 8 machines from companies like Hewlett-Packard, Vizio and Apple. These are desktop computers with giant screens all in one unit. It’s quite compact because the computer part is integrated into the screen or its stand. There’s one problem: At $1,300 and up, the new ones with Windows 8 or the latest Mac operating system are nearly twice as expensive as the equivalent Windows 7 all-in-one available on Amazon.

Our friend Nancy purchased the HP 23-1030 for $600 a few weeks ago, though it has since shot up to $800. Its 23-inch screen is the biggest we’ve seen, making it look more like a TV. In fact, it has a TV tuner to bring in broadcast channels, record them and pause live TV. It’s also powerful, with six gigabytes of RAM and a terabyte worth of hard drive storage. It comes with a free version of Microsoft Word and a wireless keyboard and mouse. It also has a webcam, DVD player and camera card reader.

While shopping at Amazon, our friend also got a three-year warranty from Square Trade for $71. Since so many people have been telling us of hard-drive failures lately, this isn’t a bad idea.

WINDOWS 7 HASSLES
An alert reader wrote in to tell us she’s as annoyed with Windows 7 as some people are with Windows 8. Invisible menus are making it difficult to organize files.

Our reader simply wants to drag and drop files from one folder to another. In XP, there’s a “View” menu at the top of any Windows Explorer window, such as “Documents,” making it easy to change from “List View” to “Icon View.” In Icon View, it’s easy to drag files from one icon to another. But to get there in Windows 7, you have to hover over a tiny icon in the right hand corner that’s almost invisible. In Windows 8, using “File Explorer,” the new name for Windows Explorer, you get the “View” menu back. But most other menus are only available when you hover in the corners or one of the sides of the screen.

Footnote: Bob still uses Windows XP, as do more than half the PC users in the world.

OLD PHONE FOR CASH
SmartphoneTradeIn.com gives you cash for your old smartphone. It’s also a good indicator of what’s popular.

Millions of BlackBerry phones have been sold at this site, but you won’t get much for yours. An older BlackBerry Curve brings in only $7; a newer one brings in $32. The latest iPhone 5 goes for $350.

For every device SmartphoneTradeIn receives, the company donates $5 to Operation Gratitude, which every year sends 100,000 care packages and letters to soldiers, veterans and children.

•What’s App for the iPhone lets you exchange text messages without paying, and works no matter what phone you’re texting.

•Rayman Jungle Run is a $3 iPhone app that’s an Editor’s Choice for best game of 2012. Soar through the jungle as you collect creatures. It looks and feels like the earliest computer games. (So does Angry Birds.)

•Boxfish is a free TV guide for iPhone/iPod/iPad. Add your favorite channels, then click to see what’s coming up or a summary of what’s on now.

•For Windows 8 tablets, MAGIX Movie Edit Touch is a $6 app that does the kind of video editing we see in more expensive programs. Record video and choose a professional template to make it zing.